The Texas Municipal Police Association (TMPA) has put up two billboards along Interstate 35 entering Austin after the city council voted last month to cut the Austin police budget. One of them reads: “Warning! Austin defunded police. Enter at your own risk!”
The second says, “Limited support next 20 miles,” according to the association.
CBS News reports that the TMPA, released the billboards – which include the hashtag #BacktheBlue – “to raise public awareness that Austin is a defunded city.”
Governor Abbott has called on every Texan and candidate for public office to sign a pledge against defunding the state’s police departments and post it on social media Thursday afternoon to show support for law enforcement.
“Defunding our police departments would invite crime into our communities and put people in danger,” reads the pledge. “That is why I pledge to support any measure that discourages or stops efforts to defund police departments in Texas.”
